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This is the TiVo HD FAQ, cut and pasted from the TiVo site when first introduced 7/24/2007. It has been verified: 08/16/2007.

This particular portion of the TiVo HD FAQ here on Tivo Community Forum is provided for your convenience. It should not be considered an original work by Dvr4me.

What is the TiVo® HD DVR?

The TiVo® HD DVR is the ultimate HDTV companion, maximizing your cable experience by combining the clarity of High Definition with the Emmy Award-winning TiVo service. Designed as a universal cable box replacement that works seamlessly with any cable provider, the TiVo HD DVR also includes exclusive TiVo service features such as Movie & TV Downloads through Amazon Unbox, Home Movie Sharing and universal Swivel Search®, delivering the best of broadband video directly to the television set right alongside your favorite broadcast programs.

TiVo HD can record up to 20 hours in HD or up to 180 hours in SD, depending on your cable source.

What HD resolution modes does the box support?

TiVo HD supports 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i.

What is the hard-drive size?

160GB.

What is included in the box?

TiVo HD DVR

TiVo remote control

Composite cables

Component cables

Power cable

Telephone cable

Manual

Quick Start Guide

What is the retail price for the TiVo HD DVR?

$299.99 MSRP

Where can I find a TiVo HD DVR?

TiVo.com, Best Buy, Circuit City and Amazon. TiVo HD will also be available at many local and regional retailers.

What are the service options?

Customers can choose from a 1, 2 or 3yr TiVo monthly or prepaid service plan. A one year minimum service plan is required.

Do you still offer the Multi-Service Discount (MSD)?

Yes, if you have multiple TiVo boxes, you may be eligible for the Multi-Service Discount. To learn more about the Multi-Service Discount click here.

What signal sources does the TiVo HD DVR support?

The TiVo HD DVR supports digital cable, over-the-air digital antenna (ATSC), analog cable and analog antenna. You will need one (1) Multi-stream CableCARD or two (2) Single-stream CableCARDs to receive HD Digital channels. Without CableCARDs, you will still be able to receive standard definition analog channels, as well as analog and digital antenna channels.

The TiVo HD DVR is designed for cable and CANNOT support satellite programming. For customers with satellite service, TiVo offers the TiVo Series2 DT in Standard Definition.

What is a CableCARD decoder?

A CableCARD decoder is small card that allows a digital TV or set top box to receive Digital Cable programming from your cable provider. It's about the size of a thick credit card, and fits into a special slot built into the TiVo HD box.

To receive two digital cable channels at the same time, the TiVo HD DVR will require either one (1) Multi-stream CableCARD or two (2) Single-stream CableCARDs. You will need to contact your cable provider to request CableCARD decoders. All major cable companies are FCC mandated to provide CableCARDs to their digital cable subscribers. Some cable companies offer CableCARDs for free and others charge a small monthly fee.

What are the USB ports for?

The USB ports are for connecting to your home network with the TiVo Wireless G Network Adapter.

Can I use any wireless network adapter on my TiVo HD box?

No, only the TiVo Wireless G Network Adapter allows a wireless connection to your home network. The TiVo Wireless G Network Adapter can be purchased separately at TiVo.com and most retailers.

How is TiVo HD different from the TiVo Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder?

Both products are designed on the Series3 architecture so the core TiVo functionality is the same. However, the TiVo Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder will remain as our premium HD DVR product with features such as a bigger hard drive (250gb), THX Certification, front panel display and a programmable, back-lit remote control.

How is a TiVo HD DVR different from Series2?

The TiVo HD DVR is the ideal HDTV companion, maximizing the cable experience by combining the clarity of HD with the Emmy Award-winning TiVo service. The TiVo Series2 products are designed for analog television or to be used with an external satellite receiver.

What is the purpose of the front panel display lights?

The front panel lights display your current video resolution mode (i.e. 720p or 1080i). They also communicate basic TiVo functions such as power, recording or download in progress.

Are TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing available on TiVo HD?

TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing are not currently available on the TiVo HD DVR. We expect that a version of TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing features will be made available for the TiVo HD DVR in the future.

No, TiVo HD does not include an HDMI cable. HDMI cables are sold separately and available at [u]www.tivo.com[/u] or in retail stores.

Does the TiVo HD have a Firewire output?

No, the TiVo HD does not support 1394 (Firewire) outputs.

Does the TiVo HD box work with my cable company's video on demand and pay-per-view services?

Currently, certain advanced and interactive digital cable services such as video-on-demand, enhanced program guide, and pay-per-view services may require the use of a separate cable company-provided set-top box. For more information about interactive digital cable services, please call your local cable operator.

Per [post=5356026]this post by avmike[/post], his S3 will output to a standard TV just fine and will downconvert any HD programming to 480i resolution.

I purchased my TiVo Product Lifetime service on or before January 21, 2000 and would like to use the one-time "Grandfather transfer" (KDB code 09-07-04) to transfer the Lifetime service to my new TiVo HD. Can I?"

Although TiVo initially was not allowing the "Grandfather transfer", it has been confirmed by [post=5356056]gbronzer in this post[/post] that Tivo will allow you to transfer your Tivo Product Lifetime service if you qualify for KDB code 09-07-04 transfers.

Does the TiVo HD support SDV (switched digital video)?

Not at this time.

Does the TiVo HD support MRV (multi-room viewing)?

Not at this time. However, per the FAQ on Tivo.com, "We expect that a version of TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing features will be made available for the TiVo HD DVR in the future."

The TiVo HD has an E-SATA port like the S3. The S3 E-SATA port is currently working using kickstart 62. Does the E-SATA port work on the TiVo HD? Can I use kickstart 62 to enable the port? (C004)

Although the TiVo HD does have an E-SATA for hard drive expansion, it is not currently enabled in the TiVo software included on the TiVo HD. The workaround for the S3 (kickstart 62) is based on a different TiVo software revision and will not work on the TiVo HD. TiVo does have plans to enable the E-SATA port in the TiVo HD but a definitive date has not been set.

What is the SD and HD recording capacity?

There are two types of TV channels the TiVo HD handles: analog and digital. The goal of the TiVo HD is to record digital information onto the hard drive. While analog channels must be converted into a digital format, digital TV signals are provided in a already compressed MPEG2 digital format.

Since the TiVo HD must convert the analog channels into a digital format, it provides 4 different levels of compression for standard definition (SD) analog recordings. For SD recordings, it will record approximately:

BEST quality: 45 hours, 30 minutes

HIGH quality: 73 hours, 17 minutes

MEDIUM quality: 96 hours, 34 minutes

BASIC quality: 184 hours, 26 minutes

Digital channels and High Definition (HD) channels need no futher processing or compression since they are already in digital format (there is no setting for recording quality of a digital channel on the TiVo HD).

The 160 gigabyte hard drive in the TiVo HD will record up to 20 hours of HD programming. Notice how it says "up to 20 hours". It may be less or it may be more depending on how compressed the digital signal is from your signal provider. Some 1 hour shows might only take up 5 gigabytes of space while other shows might take up 8 or 9 gigabytes of space.

Atmuscarella pointed out to me that SD digital programs should take up a lot less space than their HD counterpart. After testing a few shows, it appears that a SD digital channel will take up approximately 1.6 gigabytes of space per hour of recording. Based on this number, if you were to purely record SD digital programs, you can expect about 100 hours of programming to fit on the 160Gb hard drive. Like HD recordings, this number can vary greatly depending on what you are recording and how much the recording is compressed (a high action, colorful movie with a lot of scene changes is not going to compress as well as a slow moving movie with few scene changes).

Please keep in mind that HD and SD recordings are not exclusive of one another. If you record 10 hours of HD, you've filled 1/2 of the hard drive and only have 22 hours of BEST quality SD recording capacity left.

How can I figure out how much space is being used by a show?

Just go to your "Now Playing" list, select the show, and rather than pressing play, press the "info" button on your TiVo remote. On the info screen it will tell you the percentage of the hard drive space being used as well as how many gigabytes of space is consumed by the show.

What software revision is the TiVo HD running out of the box?

8.1.7A1-01-2-652 is the revision my recorder was running on first boot.

What is the current software revision?

8.1.7B2-01-2-652, introduced 08/16/2007

What is the history of the software revisions that have been released?

I need more space! The 160 gig drive is just too small. Can I use the usual tools to replace my 160 gig drive with a larger hard drive?

The previous tools do not work on the TiVo HD. However, new tools have been developed and many people have been successful in upgrading their drives to larger drives. (Thanks Spike2k5!!) See [post=5368943] this post[/post] for all the details.

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When I set the LED's to "ALL OFF", the green LED remains on. (Fixed in software version 8.1.7b)

Typically when you set the LED's to "ALL OFF", all the LED's will go dark. However on the TiVo HD, the green LED remains on. It is not known whether this is a feature or a bug or whether TiVo will correct it. It is just known to currently operate in this manner.

When I first setup my TiVo HD (without cablecards), I only get the "basic" or analog channels. None of the digital clear QAM channels are in the channel lineup.

After you get the TiVo HD setup and running under your cable system you should do a "channel scan". This will scan all channels and add those channels that are not in the TiVo guide list. It may add quite a few blank channels. In my case, it added about 125 additional "dead" channels. The only way to know if a channel is live or not is to go through your channel list and enable all the channels, then use the channel up/down button in Live TV mode to scan through them. Tuning HD takes a bit of time so you'll probably want to pause on each channel for a second or two before advancing to the next. I recommend you write down the channels that are working, then disable the non-working channels in the channel list.

Unfortunately there is no way at this time to link the digital channels to guide data. You can manually record from the channels, however since there is no program information the Now Playing List will not show the program information. It will only show the channel, day, and time recorded.

I was channel flipping like a maniac through my HD channels on my TiVo HD and it rebooted/locked up/unresponsive for a minute or two! My TiVo is connected using HDMI.

Tuning the HD channels seems to take a bit of time. If you channel flip through them too fast using the channel up/down button it may become unresponsive for a period of time. I have noticed if you unplug the HDMI cable the TiVo "might" start responding. On one occasion the TiVo simply rebooted.

If you use the guide to switch channels, it seems to work fine. Try to avoid fast channel flipping using the channel up/down button.

I just finished a channel scan and I was using the signal strength screen. After I flipped through maybe two dozen channels, my TiVo rebooted. What's up?

It's probably related to the same bug posted above. When going through digital channels, something is causing a reboot. Maybe there is some type of memory leak or buffer overflow. Just expect that your unit might reboot if you're using the signal strength screen and navigating through the channels.

I bought one a while back because my receiver only has 2 optical inputs and 1 coaxial, and I had 3 devices with optical outputs I wanted to connect to it. I have it connected to a Toshiba DVD TiVo unit and it works great.

Does the "Full" Series 3 have a display on the front panel to tell you what channel you are currently on? It does not appear that the new HD Tivo has that. If this is supposed to completely replace my cable box, I think that could be one upgrade I might wait for.

No, the Series3 does not show you what channel you are watching on the front display. It shows you what programs are recording. You can see what channel you are watching by pressing info and looking at your screen (like on any TiVo.)

Does the "Full" Series 3 have a display on the front panel to tell you what channel you are currently on? It does not appear that the new HD Tivo has that. If this is supposed to completely replace my cable box, I think that could be one upgrade I might wait for.

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The "Full" S3 does have a display on the front, however it does not tell you which channel it's on. Instead it displays the name(s) of the program(s) you're recording, the time, and a couple of other things like the video resolution setting. If you want to know what channel you're on a simply press of the right arrow key will bring up a banner with the channel number.

Anyone know how true this is? Is this a requirement shared with all S3 boxes, or just the new HD one?

Already have a cheapo Linksys usb adapter running on my S2 box. Not looking forward to buying a Tivo branded adapter, especially since I can't even do transfers between boxes.

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As far as I know you can use any adapater you want. If TiVo has implemented a "feature" on new models that disallows other brands then that would make me a little concerned about future eSATA having the same feature forcing you to use a TIVo branded HDD... Let's hope that's just marketing fluff.

eSATA is a lot different then USB networking. For USB networking to work TiVo has to update and maintain drivers, and in some cases even firmware, for several different chipsets. This creates a support and development burden on them. eSATA is nothing more then an internal port pointed outward. There is no special chipset and no drivers. For TiVo to support eSATA all they have to do is develop the technology once, and then any drive with an eSATA port will work. There is no extra burden to maintain support for specific drivers or chipsets, if the drive has the port then it will just work.

eSATA is a lot different then USB networking. For USB networking to work TiVo has to update and maintain drivers, and in some cases even firmware, for several different chipsets. This creates a support and development burden on them. eSATA is nothing more then an internal port pointed outward. There is no special chipset and no drivers. For TiVo to support eSATA all they have to do is develop the technology once, and then any drive with an eSATA port will work. There is no extra burden to maintain support for specific drivers or chipsets, if the drive has the port then it will just work.

Dan

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Ah. I hadn't considered that aspect. Very good reasoning Dan. Thanks. I feel better. I can go hook up my new drives in peace.